ThrifTee Gear Upcycled Lunch Bag Review and Giveaway

Admit it. Somewhere in the back of a drawer you have an old t-shirt you just can't bear to part with. Maybe it has sentimental value, but no longer fits. Or you love the design, but really just don't wear tees anymore. Or  maybe you paid $20 for it, and you never pay that much for clothing normally, and other than your wedding dress, it's the most expensive item of clothing you own, but you don't wear it because it makes you look dumpy. [No? Just me?]

Well, now you can breathe new life into that old, beloved shirt! ThriftTee Gear will take your useless old t-shirt and turn it into a useful, eco-friendly, and unique custom lunch bag that you can actually look at and enjoy!

The Saga

When I was offered a chance to try a Thriftee Gear bag for my own, I was all over that! I excitedly starting posting possible contenders on Instagram and asked for opinions. And ThriftTee Gear sent me an envelope with a form and postage-paid return mailer to put my shirt in... which I lost.
I was so mortified, and hoped that eventually I would find it, so for over a month I said nothing.

(The consensus was #2)

So then she emails me. Something like "Hey. I haven't gotten your shirt yet. Did you decide on that one on Instagram?" I ignored her email, hoping I would find that durned envelope!

A few weeks later, "How's it going? Have you mailed your shirt yet? I really liked that one you picked." Doh! Time to 'fess up! I offered to pay postage on my own parcel if she'd tell me the address, or if she sent me another mailing envelope and form without postage, I'd pay postage for it.

She sent me a whole new postage-paid envelope! And then... I couldn't find the shirt! Aaaaaugh! So I put the envelope in a special place, so I'd be sure to find it again when ready.

Well, finally I found the shirt again. Only then... yep. You guessed it. I couldn't find the envelope! It's amazing they even let me take my babies home from the hospital, isn't it?

Finally I found the envelope (one of them anyways. Could have been the first one for all I know!) I stuffed that shirt in it without delay and mailed it off! Whew!

Now, since I'm clearly incompetent, and she had every right to just scarper off with my crappy yellowed, hole-ridden, stained, 20+ year-old shirt, (plus I have a crap memory. Which should be somewhat evident by now...) I wasn't really paying attention to the days passing by. Then I get an email. Something along the lines of "Wow. This is one crappy old shirt. How were you even able to pick it up without having it disintegrate? It's taking me a bit longer, since I'm trying to figure out how to make a bag without having it fall apart." [She was much nicer. Honest.]

And then one day, out of the blue... it arrived! And oh, was it lovely! Somehow she made the fabric look thicker and whiter and fluffier and the stains were gone! I was almost afraid to soil it with my filthy paws. And yet I was itching to pack myself a lunch right then and there... even though it was dinnertime and I was already in my comfy "fat pants" we had no plans to leave the house.

I tend to have to graze throughout the day, since I don't often have time to sit and eat until after 1pm, when Little Z is in her afternoon preschool. Which means I usually need to keep my food chilled, so I can drag it around all day to have at-the-ready. Since the only down-side to the ThriftTee Gear bags are that they aren't insulated, I needed to either wait until I had a lunch with nothing that would go bad if it sat out all day, or a day where I'd actually get to eat it in time!
Baby's co-op preschool class on Wednesday was the perfect opportunity to show off my awesome new lunch bag! We're only out of the house for a few hours, and I am allowed to eat the whole time!

With ThriftTee Gear, Lunch is in the Bag!

ThriftTee Gear bag with my lunch (breakfast) inside!

One lucky winner can choose to either send in a shirt for a custom bag, or choose one of the unique styles they have on-hand!

*Please note: If you've won or received free product from ThriftTee Gear within the past 90 days, you are ineligible to win. If you've "liked" or "followed" for an entry, you must still be a current follower at the time of the drawing. If the winner does not respond to my email within 48-hours, I will draw a new winner. (Whatever email you're registered to rafflecopter with is the email address I send to.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mama's Breakfast/Lunch/Snack

I made sure to include things that Baby could eat, since we're on the floor at preschool, and the podlings tend to swarm me like locusts when I get my food out. So I included some ham and cheese scraps from one of Big Sis' lunches that I could toss out to keep the food zombies at bay. Plus peel-less apples (she still chokes on the peels sometimes,) and raspberries for her. She would also be able to lick guacamole off a carrot stick. Yes. We're dirty double-dippers here!

Romanesco cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, Wholly Guacamole 100-calorie pack,
ham and cheese scraps, apples and raspberries

Naturally, my children did their best to thwart my plans. Little Z was sick that morning, so we all stayed home. Doh! Oh well. Baby had a great time snarfing *my* lunch at home.

Tools of the Trade